Press Clips: A-B InBev’s Puppy Love; Beer Drones

David Eisenberg

Jan. 29, 2014 at 3:58 PM

Earlier this month, Anheuser-Busch InBev shared a glimpse of its plans for 3 ┬¢ minutes of commercial airtime during this Sunday’s Super Bowl. With five total ads, the beer giant will debut a new slogan, a re-closeable aluminum bottle, and trot out its famous Clydesdale horses for a “Hero’s Welcome” dedicated to American troops returning home from Afghanistan.

But the “Hero’s Welcome” spot won’t be the only advertisement that features the company’s signature quadrupeds or tugs at consumer heart strings. The company released a full-length version of its new ad on YouTube this morning. Entitled “Puppy Love,” the spot follows the friendship between a young pup and the Clydesdales.

If you shed a tear watching that, you aren’t alone. The video has already racked up over 1.5 million views on Bud’s YouTube page. Who knows, maybe next year they’ll show the pup all grown up and eating a pile of the horse’s shit.

But not all of A-B InBev’s marketing campaigns are heartfelt tearjerkers. The recent “Hold my beer and watch this” viral video campaign left one smaller brewery feeling less than warm and fuzzy.

After filing charges against the international brewing conglomerate, Missouri’s Big Sky Brewing Co. has officially dropped its trademark infringement suit over the use of the phrase “Hold my beer and watch this” in a series of Youtube videos.

The Missoula-based brewery claimed it had been using the phrase since 2004 and had trademarked it in 2009, according to the Missoulian. The two companies have settled out of court and A-B InBev has reportedly agreed to take the videos offline.

It isn’t the only legal squabble surrounding beer, however. Breweries in Mississippi alongside the ‘Raise Your Pints’ lobbying group are lending support to a new law that would allow craft breweries to serve their beer on-site.

The initiative is drawing the ire of some Mississipi wholesalers who oppose the idea out of fear that brewery taproom sales will cut into their own profits and disrupt the three-tier system, according to the report.

In Massachusetts, there is some less contentious news from the country’s biggest craft brewery.

Boston Beer has extended its line of credit with Bank of America to $150 million, up from $50 million. Additionally, the maturity date of the line of credit has extended from March 31, 2015 to March 31, 2019.

“Boston Beer is going to spend meaningfully more on capital expenditures during 2014 than what it has on average over the last five years,” Thomas Mullarkey, the senior equity analyst at Morningstar told Brewbound. “The larger line of credit is, in my opinion, going to be used to fund capacity expansion projects.”

It seems that, even as temperatures drop in Massachusetts, the business of beer keeps rolling on. That’s also true in Chicago where Chicago Business has the story of Bill Diamonds, a train conductor for Union Pacific Railroad Co. He delivers cars of Corona, Modelo Especial, Pacifico and Victoria to Worldwide Logistics Corp., one of the biggest distribution centers for Chicago-based Crown Imports, and this time of year, as temperatures dip between cold and dangerously frigid, his job becomes more difficult.

“Beer freezes at around 13 degrees Fahrenheit,” according to article, “and it’s Bill Diamond’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

In a given night, the article says he can be carrying close to a million dollars worth of beer, which can be rendered useless should it freeze. To avoid that, he keeps beer moving as efficiently as possible to keep the cargo shaking.

“As long as they keep moving they may get slushy, but they won’t freeze,” Diamonds told the website.

So next time you raise a cold pint, you might consider the people who work tirelessly to keep it from getting too cold.

Of course, there are more than one way to deliver beer in cold weather.

Lakemaid Beer, of Stevens Point, Wis. has (perhaps in jest) introduced the Lakemaid Beer Drone for beer delivery to would-be drinkers in ice fishing huts on area lakes.

The brewery said it was inspired by Amazon.com, which has recently been testing drones for doorstep delivery of its products.

“It’s the perfect proving ground for drone delivery,” said brewery president Jack Supple in a press release. “Our initial tests on several mid-size lakes have been very successful. We’re looking forward to testing the range of our drones on larger lakes.”